County Championship: Rain at Hove as Sussex-Yorkshire finishes in draw

Hove has not lost a complete day's play in a Championship game since September 2019

Sussex's County Championship Division Two game between Sussex and Yorkshire ended in an anti-climactic draw, without a ball being bowled on the final day.

Heavy overnight and early morning rain saturated the ground at Hove - and umpires Rob White and Neil Pratt made multiple inspections in an attempt to get the game started.

That culminated in a final look at 16:30 BST - and the game was called off a quarter of an hour later. But, within a few minutes, another heavy shower put an end to any argument.

For relegated Yorkshire, needing 63 to win with seven wickets in hand, it was another frustrating experience in a season which has seen them lose a tight game to Leicestershire and then have their match against Gloucestershire washed out without a ball being bowled.

Sussex, by contrast, have been encouraged by a win and a draw against two of the stronger sides in the division ahead of this week's trip to Bristol to face Gloucestershire, starting on Thursday.

Yorkshire now have an 11-day break before hosting Glamorgan in Leeds, starting on 4 May.

Sussex head coach Paul Farbrace:

"If I was Yorkshire I'd be going home on the bus saying we'd been robbed. With 60-odd to win and seven wickets in hand, you normally win the game from that situation.

"Yorkshire were very keen to get out there and play, and if we'd been in their situation it would have been exactly the same for us.

"It was one of those days where, if it had been 200 or 250 to win, we would probably have gone home at lunchtime.

"The umpires did a great job, the ground staff did a great job and everyone tried to get the game on, which is what we should be doing. County cricket is about playing, not sitting in changing rooms.

Yorkshire head coach Ottis Gibson:

"I wish the sun was as warm as it is at home in Barbados, so it could dry the ground a bit quicker and we could have got even 40 minutes in this evening.

"We played well, and that's what I've said to the guys just now. The way we bowled having given up a lead is the template for us going forwards.

"Had we bowled better on the first day, perhaps we would have got a different outcome. When you're behind the eight-ball, you need your key players to stand up. And everybody stood up.

"Jonny Bairstow is going to play this week against Notts at Headingley in the twos. We'll go and have a look at him and see how he goes. He's had such a long lay-off, so it's a fitness assessment for him to see what his capacity is and what he can do on the field in terms of running around in the outfield or standing behind the stumps."

Match report supplied by the ECB Reporters' Network.